Medicinal Uses of Herbal Teas

Updated on July 5, 2014

Why Herbal Tea?

Tea is a fascinating drink throughout all times and it has lost any of its fascination even today. On the contrary, tea is favored today more than ever with young and old. The tea consumption has also increases considerably.

With US$5 billion market in the United States alone in 2003, a 500% increase in 10 years, tea is a well established industry that is quickly growing. Tea bags, loose teas, tea shops, and gourmet teas are only a few examples of the outlets for this ever increasing number.

Tea is a cozy and soothing drink. The psychological effect of the tea ceremony may also be considered as a valuable contribution to health: both in the prevention of diseases as well as at home and in medical therapy.

With so many applications and so many different types and functions, it's no wonder that our modern culture is experiencing such a strong interest in just what herbs can do for us. Although herbs have been around since the beginning of human history, those of us in Western societies may only just now be realizing the great power of these seemingly innocuous plants.

Since I am an avid tea connoisseur myself, I would like to present both the herbal teas, fruit teas in terms of thier health benefits.

Herbs have been shown to heal stomach ailments, improve mood, lose weight, stave off the common cold, and even to help us quit smoking. They even have the power to help regulate blood pressure, cure chronic conditions, and alleviate PMS symptoms.

As flavorful additions to our food, they can boost our immune system and contribute to better overall health. It's no wonder that over a quarter of prescriptions drugs on the market today contain some sort of plant derivative and while modern society is often quick to use the latest technology to cure our ills, herbal remedies are all natural, without dangerous side effects.

Did you know that more than 10 specific herbs are mentioned in the Bible?

Have you heard the saying, "Everything old is new again"? Well, it's true that herbs are enjoying a popular resurgence, but it's not necessarily your grandmother's version of herbs that we're talking about here!

Therefore, I would like to introduce you to the basic secrets "power" of tea.

Image courtesy of zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net | Source

Fit and Healthy with Herbal Tea

A popular self-treatment method in naturopathy has always been the herbal medicine, also called phyto-therapy. It is based on millennia-old experience that is often proven and recognized by the orthodox medicine today. A golden age of herbal medicine was recorded in the Middle Ages thanks to the medical work of many monks. At that time, the real foundation for our present herbal treatment was created.

However, some important things have changed since then in herbal medicine:

Only a very few of us have the time and opportunity, to go out into nature and look for wild herbs for their own use.

Only a few have in their garden an extensive medicinal herb cultivation, as was customary in earlier times.

Today, modern phyto-therapy for at home is dependent on a high-quality and well-functioning trade in herbal pharmacies, drugstores and healthfood stores.

But also for preparation at home, certain things have changed. One has to just follow the instructions on the herbal packs and does not use instructions from old books. Electric and gas stoves in modern kitchens provide more heat intensity, so that the times of herbal decoctions, for example, become much shorter.

Let us therefore when buying herbs for teas and baths in pharmacies and drugstores inform ourselves thoroughly.

And these are the 30 most important health herbs we should know, and their proven effect on the body when you make tea of them:

Herbal Tea Recipe

How To Prepare

How to prepare herbal teas at home, so that they can act on the body optimally:

For infusion - add 1 to 2 heaped teaspoons of the herb in a cup, pour boiling water over it, can be steeped for 5 to 10 minutes covered.

For decoction - 1 to 2 tablespoons of the herbs are placed in half a liter of cold water, then brought to boil for 1 to 2 minutes, then let steep for 10 minutes.

For an elixir - 1 to 2 tablespoons of herbs are placed in a pint of cold water for an hour. Then bring to a boil, simmer 10 to 15 minutes and let steep covered for 10 minutes.

One can also make cold extracts. For this purpose, the herbs are placed in cold water and drunk cold after the specified time.

As a rule of thumb, flowers and fine leaves of the herbs are prepared as infusion, firm petals and firmer leaves as decoction. And the tough leaves, stems and roots are used to extract medicine at home as an elixir.

Please Note: Herbal teas work best when the dried herb is not older than one year. After then the herbs are no longer effective.

The Herbal Tea should be sipped slow, best unsweetened or sweetened only with very little honey, and best consumed in the morning on an empty stomach.

4 comments

I loved this hub and it is very well written. I used to boy all this but they took out the two herb and natural healing stores in my area. Will share and voted up Useful, Awesome and Interesting.

coki252000 2 years ago Author

Thanks Lady. Glad you liked it! :)

Janice Horner 2 years ago

This is a fabulous article on teas and how they can help certain health issues. I have saved it to my Evernote because there are people I know with certain problems in this article who may consider trying some of the teas, including me!

The article itself has been structured very well and lots of images etc.

Will be pining and tweeting!

coki252000 2 years ago Author

Thanks Janice. I certainly hope that it does help your friends and you... alleviate some of those problems. Being and staying healthy should be everyone's priority. Thanks for the pin & tweet.